> Probably gestures are an innovation, but it isn't used widely except in operating system windows manager and Safari
I give a lot more credit to the multitouch trackpad.
Gestures are a great (and they work basically anywhere there are clear 'back'/'forward' navigation actions), scrolling is actually more efficient and painless than with one or more wheels; we also got rid of physical fixed buttons.
I initially switched to a magic trackpad to see if it would alleviate RSI like problems, but for how I use it I found it way more efficient than the mouse in the end.
I think the advances in trackpad usability on OS X are the main reason there is less pressure to have a touch screen.
In my case the pain was mainly in my index doing all the clicking and repeative scrolling. Scrolling without articulating my fingers helped a lot, and being able to do it with any combination of two fingers was a plus.
Same goes with being able to alternatively use the thumb or the index to click
Now I'm clearly less fast/precise than with a mouse, so I heavily rely on additional tools and shortcuts to avoid as much as I can to hunt Tiny areas with the pointer. Like using a windows manager like slate or spectacles to stop hunting the corner of the windows when resizing, or relying more on spotlight search to avoid clicking small icons in huge application lists, etc.
I give a lot more credit to the multitouch trackpad.
Gestures are a great (and they work basically anywhere there are clear 'back'/'forward' navigation actions), scrolling is actually more efficient and painless than with one or more wheels; we also got rid of physical fixed buttons.
I initially switched to a magic trackpad to see if it would alleviate RSI like problems, but for how I use it I found it way more efficient than the mouse in the end.
I think the advances in trackpad usability on OS X are the main reason there is less pressure to have a touch screen.